Understanding members’ views on sponsorship and helping to improve member benefits

Why the client needed the research
Founded over 150 years ago, The Principality Building Society is now the largest building society in Wales and the sixth largest in the UK. It manages a wide-reaching sponsorship programme that supports communities across Wales and is designed to celebrate and support sports, arts and culture in Wales.

In January 2016, Principality entered into a ten year partnership with the Welsh Rugby Union which is designed to help encourage, develop and grow Wales’ national game at all levels. The partnership was marked by the renaming of the National Stadium in Cardiff as Principality Stadium.

At the end of the first year of the sponsorship, research was required to explore customers’ attitudes to sponsorship of the stadium as well as other activities and to inform the further development of the member benefits scheme.

Our approach
The research needed a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to fully meet the objectives which included awareness and perceptions of the sponsorship, perceived ‘fit’ with the brand and views on member benefits.

We carried out the qualitative stage first so that it could be used to inform the development of the quantitative stage. We convened focus groups across Wales (including in the medium of Welsh) which employed a mix of interactive techniques to explore members’ views in depth and from different perspectives. Themed video clips were used to add impact to the results and help with dissemination within the business.

Following on from the qualitative findings we facilitated a workshop with key client stakeholders on the implications of the results and how best to move forward with the second stage of the project.

The quantitative research used phone interviews with customers to provide the client with robust evidence and a national picture of how the Principality was performing with its sponsorship and member benefits activities.

The outcome
The project as a whole provided the client with new insights in key areas, highlighting a positive ‘fit’ between the Principality and stadium sponsorship. The research also provided the client with ideas on how to maximise the benefits of the sponsorship; and other ways in which the Principality brand can be used to reward customers in future.